Munich, 23rd September, 2009 – Nemetschek Allplan, Europe’s leading vendor of software for the design and management of buildings, has agreed to enter into a close cooperation in the realm of BIM with Plancal, the market-leading supplier of HVAC software in Europe. The goal of this cooperation is to produce an integrated solution for architecture, civil engineering and HVAC technology on the basis of a universal 3D building model. This will benefit customers in that it will increase the speed and effectiveness of their planning processes. In addition to product development, both companies will collaborate in the areas of marketing and sales.

“Nemetschek’s corporate philosophy is based on providing optimum support for complex and heterogeneous planning processes in the building industry by providing focused, ‘best in class’ solutions for individual areas of application. In doing so, we enhance the core competencies of Nemetschek’s subsidiaries by entering into strategic cooperative ventures. The cooperation between Nemetschek Allplan and Plancal brings together two well-established, European market leaders. Or joint aim is twofold. Firstly, we intend to facilitate a significant increase in productivity for planning agencies that undertake projects in the fields of architecture and building services engineering. And secondly, we both want to optimise the software-supported planning processes that exist between architects and planners,” states Peter Mehlstäubler, CEO and Managing Director of Nemetschek Allplan.

“In addition to the joint commitment to increasing our customers’ productivity, both companies will benefit from synergies in terms of product development and sales,” comments Dominik Rüedi, CEO of Plancal Holding AG.

Jointly tackling the challenge of optimising BIM planning processes

The Allplan product family from Nemetschek Allplan is a well-established platform that uses 3D building models to cater for the entire planning process and which has integrated and practical drafting and design tools.

Plancal has been developing software that caters for building services for more than 30 years. The company’s core product, nova, is a leading HVAC solution which will be a valuable asset to the cooperation.

Planning processes based on Building Information Modelling (BIM) enable the universal use of building data. In such situations, it must be possible for the partners participating in a project to be able choose the software solution that is best suited to their specific requirements. The IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) standard plays a particular role here; the primary aim of the standard is to link different application disciplines via a neutral, open data model. This will form the basis upon which Plancal and Nemetschek Allplan can work together in order to fully integrate the Allplan and nova product families.

In practical terms, this means that architects, civil engineers and design professionals will be able to access the same 3D model to obtain planning data such as floor plans, sections and elevations, as well as intelligent building elements, quantities, costs and information about heating, ventilation and sanitation. Thus, the individual solution components form the basis for ensuring that project participants can access all the required construction data and circulate it as necessary without losses or interface problems. This enables an optimised planning process in the context of Building Information Modeling.

About Nemetschek Allplan

Nemetschek Allplan GmbH, with its headquarters in Munich, is a leading European vendor of software for the design and management of buildings. As a one-hundred percent subsidiary of Nemetschek AG, the company develops intelligent IT solutions for architects, engineers, building contractors and facility managers. The flagship product, Allplan, optimizes the entire creation process for buildings with regard to quality, costs and time and is used by more than 60,000 customers in 16 languages. Allplan covers all levels of a modern CAD system: from simple 2D drafting and 3D design to object-oriented building modeling with cost determination and quantity takeoff. Additional information is available at
www.allplan.com.

About Plancal

Plancal has been developing and selling software for the HVAC industry since it was established 30 years ago. It employs over 120 people in the areas of development, direct marketing and services (consulting, support, technology and training) at its headquarters in Switzerland and its branches in Germany, Austria and France.

Plancal carries out all the development work for the industry-specific standard software products it offers. The independent CAD/CAE solution nova is the first software to fully integrate drawing and calculation for all HVAC systems in one CAD core. The Plancal Group has over 6,000 active customers in the German-speaking markets. More information is available at
www.plancal.de.